White Snow and Fairy Tales
by Avalon Estel
Summary: Orihime went to Soul Society with Rukia to become a better fighter; she left a better person. You never know who might save you, and sometimes you need someone else to look at you before you can see who you really are.


**A/N:** This fic was written for FemGenFicathon IV, which is an annual fanfiction challenge at LiveJournal. The goal is to get more fanfiction out there that centers around a female lead without having a romantic situation be the basis of the story. The point is to prove that female characters are just as important and versatile as male characters, and that they do not have to be simply a significant other or a love interest to be noticed. It's really awesome; I encourage you all to look into it, and please participate next year!

* * *

**White Snow and Fairy Tales**

**1. need your grace/ cast aside winter, wrap your heart in spring**

"But Rukia, the last time I was here, your friends thought I was a criminal," Orihime whispered as she stared warily at the handful of captains and subordinates that had gathered to welcome her. It was only Rukia's closest: Renji, Ukitake, Shunsui, Byakuya, and Hanatarou, as well as Kukaku and Ganju, and Kenpachi, who had insisted on coming, considering he had carried Orihime on his back halfway across the Seiretei. (There is no point in mentioning that Yachiru was there, too. She had bounced onto Orihime's head the moment Rukia and Orihime had stepped through the gates and hadn't moved.) Rukia had introduced her, but Orihime had offered nothing more than a soft, "Hello." They were all smiling at her, but Orihime was scared out of her wits.

Rukia smiled. "Don't worry. With all that happened, they completely forgot about you."

"Well, that doesn't sound heartening."

Rukia snorted quietly and smothered the laughter threatening to bubble out of her. Orihime looked as though she were about to dart, and Rukia had to grab her wrist and hold her there when Captain Ukitake stepped forward.

"It's wonderful to finally meet you, Inoue-san," Ukitake said, holding out a hand for Orihime to shake. "I don't think we got a chance to become acquainted before."

Rukia shifted her grip from Orihime's wrist, taking the girl's hand instead. It was trembling and sweaty. She squeezed it encouragingly, and Orihime took a deep breath and took Ukitake's hand. She shook it slowly.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Captain Ukitake," she said quietly.

Rukia knew Ukitake could sense Orihime's discomfort. He grinned and patted the girl's shoulder.

"Rukia, you never told me you had such a lovely little friend," he said with a wink.

"If I parade her around too much, everyone will forget about me," Rukia joked.

It produced the desired effect; Orihime turned red and giggled.

Shunsui came up behind Ukitake and draped an arm over his shoulders. "I hear you have amazing healing abilities," he said. "Bet Unohana will want to get her hands on you."

"Sober for once, Captain Kyoraku?" Rukia teased.

Orihime gasped, scandalized. Ukitake and Shunsui gaped at her, and immediately everyone burst out laughing. The next thing she knew, Ganju had rushed forward and grabbed her up in a hug while Renji seized her hand and introduced himself ("Since we never really got a chance to actually meet each other," he said) and Kukaku gave her a vicious noogie. Orihime was laughing helplessly against Ganju's shoulder and trying to catch her breath.

Rukia smiled and relished the warmth of familiarity between them all.

Orihime needed a hand to hold sometimes, but Rukia knew that more often than not, she was holding someone else's hand for them.

**2. best to begin at the beginning/listening to silent silk**

"I'm staying _where_?" Orihime exclaimed, her voice nearly a screech.

Rukia gave her a puzzled look. "Where did you think you were staying?"

"I didn't really think about it at all, but, well…will there be enough room?"

Rukia had to hold back a snort of laughter. "You're worried that there won't be enough room in a _mansion_, Inoue?"

Orihime's hands were twisting around themselves desperately. "I…I don't want to impose…"

"How are you imposing when I'm inviting you?" Rukia's expression changed to one of understanding. She put her hands on her hips and smirked. "This isn't about staying at the Kuchiki manor, is it? It's about staying near Brother."

"No, it's not!" Orihime cried, too quickly, and Rukia's smile disappeared.

"Why are you afraid of Brother?" asked Rukia.

"I'm not afraid of him!"

"Then why don't you want to stay at our home?"

Orihime just stood there, silent and blushing, staring at the floor.

Rukia softened and stood on tiptoe to pat her head. "Don't worry about it. I know he's intimidating. He scared me for years. But he's changed now. He isn't exactly…warm, but he's kind, and he's shy when you get through the stuffy introduction."

This news surprised Orihime. "Shy?"

"If he didn't think it was improper, he'd be blushing when he meets new people. But the man is so calm he can control his blood vessels."

Orihime laughed, feeling a little better.

"And you never know," Rukia added as they started toward the mansion, "you might just be the ray of sunshine he needs."

The attendant knelt low, his head bowed, before he stood and gestured back at the two behind him. "Lord Kuchiki, may I present Lady Rukia Kuchiki and Inoue Orihime-san."

Byakuya nodded before settling his gaze on his sister and the ryoka girl.

"You may go," he told the attendant, who hurried gratefully from the room.

Rukia bowed, and Orihime fell into a kneel the way the attendant had. Rukia tapped Orihime's leg with her toe, but the girl didn't rise.

"It's an honor to meet you, Lord Kuchiki," she said reverently.

Rukia straightened and looked at Byakuya, who had a small, careful smile on his usually-stern face. He stood from his cushion, went to Orihime, took her hands, and lifted her to her feet. Orihime's eyes widened and her fingers tightened around his slim, gentle hands.

"The honor is mine, Inoue-san," he said quietly. "You must never lower yourself before me. No one who came from the living world to Soul Society and risked their life to save my sister's shall ever bow to me." He released her hands, stepped back, and bowed to her instead.

"Thank you for what you and your friends did," he said. "You saved me from losing myself a second time. I owe you much for that."

When he straightened, he saw that Orihime's eyes were full of tears. He looked from her to Rukia, who was watching him with disbelief.

"You're so welcome, Lord Kuchiki!" Orihime exclaimed, covering her face with her hands to hide her tears. "I just loved Rukia too much to let her die."

"I understand," Byakuya said. He smiled at Rukia, who blushed scarlet and fidgeted. "I have since realized that I feel the same way."

**3. afternoon tea **

That afternoon, when they had finished their morning training, Rukia told Orihime that they should have lunch with her captain.

"Captain Ukitake?" Orihime asked.

"Don't tell me you're going to get nervous again," Rukia teased.

Orihime didn't bother answering. Her expression did it for her.

"He's one of the sweetest, kindest, gentlest men in the world," Rukia said, waving a hand dismissively. "He couldn't hurt a fly." She paused. "Well, I guess that isn't really true, since he fights Hollows, but you know what I mean. For goodness' sake, I've heard people calling him 'The Cutiepie Captain'. Does that sound scary at all?"

Orihime decided she didn't have a choice, anyway, so the two of them set off to get lunch and take it to the 13th company headquarters. They found Ukitake in his office, writing out a report about a recent Hollow attack. His long, ivory hair was pulled back in a ponytail, and when he looked up at them and smiled, Orihime covered her mouth to muffle a giggle.

Whoever had made up his nickname had been right.

At first, Orihime was a bit reluctant to talk very much. Rukia explained to Ukitake why she had brought Orihime, about the girl's powers (he had chuckled at how appropriate it was for her to have fairies in her hairpins), and they discussed the threat of Aizen's forces. Then he seemed to notice Orihime's discomfort and changed the subject.

By the end of their visit, Orihime had told him about everything from Tatsuki to butterfly migrations to her favorite books to the dream she had had the night before. Rukia noticed how intently he listened, as though there was nothing more important in the world than what Orihime was saying. He was good at listening, and at knowing what to say when.

And she knew that to him, at that moment, there _wasn't_ anything more important.

**4. Scheherazade had a thousand tales/ Michelangelo in my mind**

Orihime told stories. If they weren't training or sleeping, she was telling Rukia about something she had done or somewhere she had gone or something she had seen or read or thought about or made up or daydreamed over. She would start out talking about the movie she and Tatsuki had seen once and then somehow jump to what she would like to eat and then meander into a fantasy she had concocted about fighting dragons and rescuing princesses ("Who was the princess?" asked Rukia. "I don't know yet," Orihime said. "Since I'm doing the rescuing, it can't be me." Rukia wondered whether she could just talk the dragon to death.). Sometimes she would start a story and never finish it. Sometimes one story would become another. She could have kept Scheherazade's king entertained until Judgment Day.

Rukia just listened and smiled, knowing that Orihime didn't talk to hear herself talking. She talked to show others her heart.

Rukia drew. They weren't very good drawings; even she knew that. Renji had always tormented her endlessly over how bad they were; Ichigo had shouted about them; even Kaien had laughed over them, and once he had even put one up on the announcement board for the entire company to see.

Rukia doodled while Orihime talked. Sometimes the stories would seep into her pen and would come out on the paper in brilliant illustrations that she afterwards showed to Orihime, who _oohed_ and _aahed_ over them like they were masterpieces.

Rukia knew they weren't very good, and Orihime knew they weren't very good, but they came from Rukia's soul, and that made them beautiful.

**5. so she dances/ the winter of our discontent**

"You have to learn to duck!" Rukia scolded, stabbing Sode no Shirayuki viciously into the grass. "If I hadn't moved I would have skewered you! An enemy would run you through like you were a side of beef!"

"I'm sorry!" Orihime gasped out, close to tears in her frustration. It was the third time she had messed up during this practice session, and it was starting to wear on her. "I'm really trying!"

Rukia sighed and sheathed her zanpakutou. "I know you are. It's not easy." She went to a nearby tree and flopped down underneath it, resting back against the trunk.

Orihime stood for a moment, then joined Rukia under the tree and sighed heavily.

"I was awful when I started," Rukia said. "I wasn't good at kido, I wasn't fast, I wasn't strong enough to fight with a normal katana – it took me forever to wake my zanpakutou, and even then Lieutenant Kaien had to help me learn my releases."

"I bet you were still better than me," Orihime said, her voice mournful.

Rukia shook her head. "Kaien used to say that we're all like frogs."

Orihime blinked at her. "Frogs?"

"Yes, I know it's weird, but he made it make sense. It was something about how a frog starts out as a tadpole, and it really can't do anything but swim around, trying to figure things out. Then it starts to grow leg and arm stubs, and then it's able to swim faster. Then it gets legs and arms, and it can go on land and breathe air, and now it can swim _and_ hop. It still has its tail, because it needs some kind of support, but then when it's able to function alone, it loses its tail and can do what it likes, whether it's in water or on land."

"That _is_ weird, but it does make sense, too," Orihime said. "I don't think I got to meet him yet."

Rukia was quiet for a while. Orihime wondered if maybe she hadn't heard, but then Rukia said, "You can't meet him."

"Why not?"

"He's…he died, a long time ago."

"Oh, I'm so sorry," Orihime said. "Were you two close?"

"Yes. Very. I admired him more than anyone else. He was like a big brother."

"I know how that feels," Orihime whispered. "You know about Sora…he was my everything."

"I know."

"Was it a Hollow?"

"Yes, and no."

"What do you mean?"

"Let's suffice it to say that the Hollow started it, but I finished it."

Orihime didn't want to push it. She knew how it felt to be so sad. She didn't understand, but she knew it was something that Rukia didn't want to talk about. So she grabbed Rukia's hand and hauled her to her feet.

"Let's see if I can grow some legs, okay?" she said cheerfully, maybe a little too cheerfully.

It was obvious to Rukia that Orihime was trying to fix things. Nothing could fix what had happened, but Kaien had also taught Rukia that she couldn't live in the past. She had to keep walking forward.

Or rather, hopping forward.

**6. love is not a victory march/ we could have been beautiful**

Orihime was in love with Ichigo. This was fact, and unbeknownst to her, it was known to almost everyone who cared about her, from Tatsuki to Uryu, from Matsumoto to Chad.

Orihime was too afraid to tell Ichigo her feelings. This, also, was fact, and was also well-known to those around her.

Ichigo was completely oblivious to how Orihime felt. This, too, was well-known, and oftentimes silently cursed.

Orihime knew Ichigo didn't know. She also knew that she could never tell him. He was her prince, albeit only in her mind, and she knew that even if he would never know, it was enough to be around him.

There were still parts of her that harbored fantasies of Ichigo sweeping her off her feet, bundling her onto his noble steed, and the two of them riding off into the sunset together. (He wasn't exactly the sweeping type - more of the slinging-over-the-shoulder-and-walking-home type - but a girl could dream.)

But she also knew that he would probably never notice, because his eyes were always on someone else.

She knew Rukia was the one that he needed to have around. She could see why; Rukia had a way of making anyone feel like they were the most special being in the universe. There was something about the way she spoke to you, the way she looked at you, that made you believe that you could do anything. Orihime knew she wasn't like that. She also knew that Ichigo needed someone to tell him he was special. He needed someone to show him, to remind him that he didn't have to do everything all the time, that he didn't have to carry everyone all the time, and that the world wasn't going to come crashing down if he happened to fall once or twice. Orihime couldn't do that; Matsumoto had said she had something, but she didn't believe that. She loved him so much, but she could barely make herself talk to him.

Rukia could.

It broke Orihime's heart that she couldn't make Ichigo know how she felt, couldn't comfort him or soothe him or encourage him, and she wanted so badly to hate Rukia because Rukia _could_.

But then, when Orihime was sad or upset or failing, Rukia would look at her or smile at her, and the almost-hate evaporated. She always wanted to hate _herself_ then, because she was so ashamed to even _think_ of being jealous of the other girl, and she would have detested herself if Rukia wasn't always standing there making her feel wonderful. Rukia was her sister in all but blood; she was like Tatsuki, but different. She didn't know whether Ichigo really loved Rukia, and at those times, it didn't matter at all.

Orihime knew she loved Ichigo, but sometimes she wondered whether she loved Rukia more.

**7. things like loneliness/how far we've come**

Rukia had arranged for Orihime to have her own rooms in the Kuchiki residence, but Orihime had asked if it would be all right for her to just camp out in Rukia's room. Orihime didn't think she could have held herself together in a separate room. She lived alone, yes, but that was at home where she knew every inch of her surroundings and could find her way around blindfolded. Rukia had just laughed and said it would be fun to have a sleepover with another girl for the first time in her life.

Orihime had planned on sleeping on the floor, but Rukia had insisted that they would share her futon.

"How can you be comfortable?" asked Orihime in disbelief. "I'm…well, no offense, but I'm a lot _bigger_ than you, you know? I would be okay – I've slept with Tatsuki lots of times, and when I was little I slept with Sora, but I'm afraid I might crush you or you might be cramped."

Rukia cracked up. She laughed until there were tears in her eyes and she couldn't catch her breath. Orihime sat there, staring at her, flustered and bewildered. Finally, Rukia regained control of herself and managed to look at Orihime with a straight face.

"Do you realize that I grew up on the streets, sleeping on bare floors and crushed in between the five little street kids I was living with? I used to wake up with Renji's feet in my face and cramps in my back and my legs. No matter how you sleep, no matter what you do, there's no way in the world that you can make me uncomfortable."

This statement succeeded in thoroughly confusing Orihime.

"What?"

Rukia looked annoyed. "What?"

"You grew up with Renji? On the streets? What about Lord Kuchiki – "

"- Call him Byakuya."

"Oh, I couldn't! I'd be so embarrassed!" Orihime remembered what she'd been saying. "Back to the point: I thought you were his sister! What do you mean?"

Rukia sighed. "Byakuya is not my brother by blood. He is my brother-in-law, and my brother by adoption. My sister, Hisana, abandoned me in the Rukongai when I was just an infant, and she later married Byakuya."

"She abandoned you?"

"She told Brother that she couldn't take care of me. She was too destitute; the Rukongai are the slums, after all. I don't think I would have done the same in her position, but one shouldn't speak ill of the dead."

Orihime didn't know what to say to that.

"Anyway, she married Brother – don't ask me how they met, I still don't know – and she told him about me, and together they searched for me until she became ill and died. It hit Brother really hard, from what I hear, but she made him promise to keep looking for me. So he did. And here I am."

"You became a shinigami after that, then?"

"No, I was already in the Academy when he found me."

"You never knew your sister, did you?"

"No. I wonder what she was like. I didn't know for a long time why I had been adopted, or why I looked like Brother's wife, or why I had been chosen, of all people. When Brother told me everything, I couldn't believe it. I began to wonder who she was, what she was like, but I could never make myself ask Brother. He never seemed like the type to want to talk about things, and now I wonder what he was like before, when she was alive." Rukia stared hard at Orihime, but Orihime had a feeling Rukia wasn't really looking at her face. "Sometimes I wonder if he would be this way if she were still alive. Sometimes I wonder if she even realized how much pain she was leaving him in by asking him to look for me. I wonder how many times he looked at me and saw her. Maybe that's why he alienated himself for so long."

"Maybe you should ask _him_ these things," Orihime suggested.

Rukia's gaze went back to Orihime's face then, focused on her eyes. "Maybe I should," she agreed. "What about your brother? You talk about him all the time."

"Sora raised me. He was fifteen years older than me. My mother and father were…well, they got drunk a lot and beat him. He said that when I was born, he didn't want me to live through that. He said he took care of me, and then when I was three and he turned eighteen, he took me and left. He got an apartment, got a job, and raised me. He was a father more than a brother, really. I loved him more than the world." Orihime could feel herself tearing up, and her lips trembled as she spoke.

Rukia could see Orihime's pain, but she knew that Orihime would be all right. "What happened to him?"

"He died, too. He got hit by a car on the way to work." Orihime's voice broke over a sob, and the tears spilled from her eyes. "I tried to save him. I took him to a clinic – Ichigo's dad's clinic, actually – but they couldn't save him, and h-h-he…_died_." She sobbed again and covered her face. She was barely intelligible as she wept. "I d-didn't know what I would d-d-do after that. My aunt sends me money and got me an apartment to live in, but I was b-by myself until Tatsuki saved me f-f-from the bullies."

Rukia went to her and hugged her tightly. Orihime wrapped her arms around Rukia's waist and hid her face in the soft fabric of Rukia's shihakshou. Rukia let her cry until she finished.

"We'll need to join Brother for dinner soon," Rukia reminded her briskly once she had control of herself again.

This sobered Orihime up quite rapidly, and she hurried off in search of a place where she could wash her face and freshen up.

Rukia decided that at dinner tonight, she would make some friendly conversation with Byakuya. It couldn't hurt, and if he decided to turn frosty, she would let Orihime start talking.

**8. beautiful mistake**

One morning, Rukia woke to find herself alone on her futon. She sat up and glanced around the room; Orihime was nowhere in sight. It was amazing how in just a couple of days she had gotten so used to having the girl around. It was like having a younger sister, which was an odd feeling for her.

She got up and changed into a daytime kimono, then went in search of Orihime. None of the servants she encountered had seen Orihime that morning. Rukia checked the library, the meditation room, the kitchen, the dining room, all to no avail. It was nearly mid-morning when she went into the inner courtyard by chance.

Orihime was sitting on the rim of the large fountain in the center of the courtyard, talking to her Shun Shun Rikka fairies. She said something, and one of them suddenly attacked her head, yanking her hair and making her yelp. Rukia shook her head and waited in the doorway until Orihime had collected herself and returned the fairies to her hairpins, then stepped into the sunlight and made her way to the fountain.

"Good morning, Rukia!" Orihime said brightly as Rukia sat down beside her.

"Good morning," Rukia replied. "What's wrong?"

"What do you mean, what's wrong?" asked Orihime. "I feel perfectly fine."

"No, I can tell when you're not all right, and something's up. What is it?"

Orihime sighed heavily. "I just miss Tatsuki. That's what I was telling Tsubaki right before you came in, but he said I was being silly and pulled my hair again." She laughed. "If Tatsuki knew he pulled my hair, she'd flick him across the room."

"You really care about Tatsuki."

Orihime stared at her. "She's my best friend in the universe! She's my Watson, my Pancho, my Robin!" She paused. "Or maybe it's the other way around, and she's my Sherlock Holmes and my Batman. I really think I'm Don Quixote, though."

Rukia laughed. "I'm sure she's missed you a lot lately. She doesn't know about your powers or anything, does she?"

"No."

"You haven't told her?"

"I didn't know if I could or not. But I think she has a feeling that something's going on, and I've been pushing her to the side a lot recently. I feel bad about it."

"You know, Orihime, people do grow apart as time goes on. Maybe you and she are just taking separate ways in life."

"No, never! Tatsuki and I promised each other that no matter what happens we'll stick together through it all, and that we wouldn't keep anything from each other!"

"But you're keeping your powers from her."

"I know. But that's different."

"How so?"

"I don't know. It's just…more important than the things we usually talk about. It's like a big secret or something."

"You should tell her important things, shouldn't you?"

Orihime sighed. "I guess." She clenched her hand into a fist suddenly and her expression became resolute. "I'll tell her when we get home, and right away I'll start spending more time with her."

"That's good. It's too bad that she doesn't have any spiritual powers; we could really use her strength against Aizen."

"If Tatsuki had spiritual powers, she would be terrifying. She could throw cars."

Rukia laughed. "That's true."

"What about you?" asked Orihime. "Who's your best friend?"

Rukia leaned back and thought. "I don't know if I have a _best_ friend. I have so many people I care about too much. I can't choose between them."

Orihime smiled, knowing she was one of those friends. "Who have you known longest, then?"

"That would be Renji. We met when I helped him and his little gang get food once, and I stayed with them after that. The others all died, from sickness or starvation. When they were gone, we didn't know what else to do, so we went to the Academy. Then Brother found me."

"And Renji…?"

"Well, that's what I meant about friends growing apart. He went on with his studies, and my new status caused me to be moved up in all my classes. I graduated and got placed in 13th company, and he went to 6th."

"But he's Lord Kuchiki's lieutenant, isn't he?"

"That doesn't mean anything. I was always too busy with what I had to do and neither of us thought it was appropriate to deal with each other. I think we were both afraid of Brother."

Orihime giggled. "And now?"

"Now we see each other all the time," Rukia said, waving a hand impatiently. "He comes to visit, we eat together, train together, all sorts of things."

"That's good."

Rukia gave her a puzzled look. "What is?"

"That you two are friends again. You need to keep your loved ones around you, even if life tries to pull you apart."

Rukia smiled and stood. "What do you say to some breakfast and then training?"

"What if we trained with Renji today?" asked Orihime as they went back into the mansion and started toward the kitchens.

"Are you sure you're ready for that?" Rukia asked, grinning. "Renji's crazy when he starts fighting, even if it's practice."

"I think I can handle it."

"Well, I'm sure you at least have your leg stumps by now."

They laughed all the way to the kitchens.

**9. learning to breathe**

Orihime always rose with the sun.

One morning, after a very late night of talking and laughing and doing each other's hair (Orihime hadn't believed she would ever see Rukia do something like styling hair), Orihime's internal clock was still set for sunrise. She woke to the sun on her face and Rukia's hand holding hers. The shinigami was still asleep. Orihime felt odd suddenly, watching Rukia sleep. Rukia, who could take down any Hollow that came at her, who could stare down an army, who could stand up at her full height of about five feet and still intimidate anyone she met, was lying there looking as gentle and vulnerable as a child. Though none of her courage or independence or burning ferocity showed, she still possessed all of the grace she had when she was awake. Her slender hand was wrapped tightly around Orihime's, and every inch of her little body was completely prim and perfect. It was impossible to believe that Rukia, who looked from the top of her head to the tips of her toes like a noblewoman, could have grown up in the slums, could have lived on the streets and scrimped and stolen to get by.

Yet she had, and Orihime respected her all the more for it. She had been through everything – poverty, pain, grief, loss – and yet she still stood as tall and unmoving as a mountain. Not only did she climb – she dragged others up with her, no matter how she felt at the time. Orihime was just surprised that of all times, she would realize it while Rukia was asleep beside her, totally oblivious.

Orihime sighed. It was daylight, but she knew that if she got up, she would wake Rukia up, too. It wouldn't hurt to sleep in once. She pulled Rukia's hand closer, pressed it to her cheek, and drifted back to sleep with a smile on her face.

**10. the turning of the tide/when the world is ending**

"Faster!"

Orihime shouted the command for Tsubaki, and he went zooming like a bullet at Rukia. Orihime called him off before he could make contact, but he had come fast and hard enough that he would have struck Rukia with great force.

"That's wonderful, Orihime!" Rukia cheered, pumping a fist triumphantly into the air. "That would be great against an enemy!"

"Oh, yes!" Orihime hopped up and down, then leapt at Renji, who had been watching from nearby, and wrapped her arms around him. Renji stared at Rukia in shock. Rukia covered her mouth to hold back the hysterical laughter bubbling up in her throat. Renji grinned then and patted Orihime's back. Orihime realized what she had done and quickly drew back, blushing.

"Sorry," she whispered.

Renji laughed. "Don't worry about it."

Orihime couldn't contain herself. She hopped again, grinning brightly enough to rival the sun.

"Let's do it again?" Rukia said, holding up her zanpaktou.

"Yes, yes, let's!" She held her hand out and Tsubaki landed in her palm. He wasn't punishing her for once, instead feeling the mutual pride between himself and Orihime. It felt good to finally do something right, and her happiness flowed through Tsubaki, as well. He gave her thumb a manly pat. Orihime was overjoyed at this second approval. She lifted him and kissed the top of his head. He shouted and grumbled, but he was so pleased with her and himself that he didn't have the heart to attack her.

"Ready?"

"Let's do it again, Tsubaki," Orihime whispered to the fairy.

Tsubaki nodded and took a fighting stance. Rukia tightened her grip on her sword, and Orihime spread her legs a bit for balance.

Renji lifted his arm into the air. "One, two, three…begin!"

Orihime stood between Soul Society and the living world, between her slain escorts and the threatening, silent Espada, between life and death.

The Espada was a monster; he had already hurt Tatsuki and Chad. He was the reason why the shinigami sent to protect her were now lying dead in their own blood. He frightened her. He was blank, empty – she could see it in his eyes. He had felt nothing when he struck the escorts down, he felt nothing now as he offered her a choice between life and death, between an eternity of slavery and the slaughter of her friends. He held all of them – Matsumoto, Renji, Hitsugaya, Ayasegawa, Madarame, Ichigo, Rukia – in the palm of his hand. Or rather, he had placed them all in _her_ hands.

Ichigo.

Rukia.

_Ichigo._

Rukia.

She stared at him, stood there and stared at him, and she knew those cold, expressionless eyes could see the fear in every contour of her body.

But Rukia had taught her more than fighting. She had learned who she was. She had learned to stand for herself. She had learned that sometimes one must give things up for others to keep going.

Even if you were giving up your freedom.

Even if you were giving up your life.

Even if you were giving up your soul.

She straightened and stared at the Espada, forcing anger into her eyes alongside the fear. She hoped he could see that she wasn't going down without a fight.

She would do as he said, but she would fight.

She could not forget Renji's hand on her back, Matsumoto's words and gentle arms, Hitsugaya's hidden smiles, Ichigo's frowns. She could not forget the way Rukia had always looked at her, as if she were the most important person in the world. She could not forget the way Rukia's hand had felt in hers.

She could not, _would not_, let them down.


End file.
